Desjardins Speaker Series: How to Build a $100B Company, Brick by Brick

How to Build a $100B Company,
Brick by Brick

Join headlining speaker Reynold Xin, co-founder of Databricks, a San Francisco-based data and AI infrastructure startup valued at over $130B and one of the fastest growing tech startups in history. Reynold is a proud U of T alumnus (BASc in Engineering Science) who will share his story of a founding team that turned a research project into a business with a global footprint, over 8,000 employees and thousands of enterprise customers.

Joining Reynold on stage will be Mike Murchison, CEO of Ada – the agentic customer experience company. Mike is a serial entrepreneur and proud U of T alumnus (B. Sc. Cognitive Science, Psychology and Human Computer Interaction). A Forbes 30 Under 30 winner, Mike envisions a world where every company is managing customer-facing AI Agents that deliver a new standard of personalized experience at scale.

Moderated by award-winning business journalist Amanda Lang, Reynold and Mike will share the evolution of data and AI, lessons from founders, and what Canada needs to do to seize the AI moment through the perspective of two proud U of T alumni.

In Conversation With

Reynold Xin 

Reynold is a co-founder of Databricks, where he has helped build multiple billion-dollar product lines.

Amanda Lang 

Amanda Lang is chief financial correspondent for CTV News, contributing to its flagship national newscasts and across its networks. She is also the host of Taking Stock, a weekly national…

Michael Murchison 

Mike Murchison is CEO and Co-founder of Ada, the trusted agentic customer experience company.

event May 25-29, 2026

U of T Guide to Toronto Tech Week 

Toronto Tech Week is back, bringing a weeklong collection of events across the city to connect and celebrate the tech community.